[GRASS-PSC] Statement Michael Barton

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I am honored to be nominated to continue on the PSC.

By way of background, I have been a GRASS user and contributor for nearly t=
wo decades. When I first managed to compile GRASS on my Mac, I wrote a poli=
te email to Markus Neteler asking about the possibility of a GUI. He wrote =
back a polite email explaining that this new open source project relied on =
volunteers to do such development. While uncertain about my ability to cont=
ribute the project, I tried anyway--learning and benefiting much. I have ha=
d a number of roles in the GRASS community and indeed ended us designing an=
d coding several generations of GUI's, including the one now used. This wor=
k is now carried on by others younger and more talented than I am. Importan=
tly, all of my contributions would not have been possible without the colla=
boration of other volunteers in this community. While I still do a little d=
evelopment work, my main contribution is to maintain the Mac binaries.

I use GRASS for socio-ecological research and dynamic modeling, and teach g=
eospatial technologies with GRASS (in the USA, Germany, and Spain). Being a=
 member of the international GRASS community has made me an ardent and voca=
l advocate of FOSS and open science. Promoting open scientific computation =
is key to the mission of the scientific network I lead, CoMSES.NET. I regul=
arly point to GRASS as an exemplar open source software project, a bottom u=
p, self-organized network of users and developers around the world who toge=
ther create some of the most powerful and highest quality geospatial softwa=
re available.

I will continue to participate in the GRASS developer and user communities,=
 advocating for GRASS and FOSS, whether or not I am on the PSC. If selected=
, I am happy to continue to provide input, a historical perspective, and su=
pport the PSC as a researcher/educator/developer and as a Mac user of GRASS=
. My goals for GRASS center around making it more accessible so that more p=
eople can use it and contribute to the project. I am very happy to see the =
continued growth of the developer and user communities, especially the new =
generation of developers who are continuing the GRASS tradition of high-qua=
lity, cutting-edge software. I certainly support ongoing work to make the G=
UI more flexible and more usable, critically important for enabling a wide =
diversity of people to apply this sophisticated and powerful software. Alon=
g these lines, I would encourage incipient development efforts to provide a=
 browser-based version of GRASS, available online as software-as-a-service.=
 Also, in order to support transparent, scientific workflows, one suggestio=
n I have is for an option that would automatically record the commands behi=
nd a series of GUI actions in a file that could be saved and shared. All th=
e functionality to do this is already in place in GRASS. Finally, while pre=
paring this statement, I went looking for an expression of the GRASS missio=
n, and found that one is not available beyond "Bringing advanced geospatial=
 technologies to the world". This is indeed laudable. But given the long an=
d successful history, and worldwide use of GRASS, it would be of value for =
the PSC, with approval of voting community members, to articulate a more co=
mprehensive GRASS mission statement to communicate the vision of this commu=
nity to a global audience.

Michael Barton

______________________________
C. Michael Barton
Network for Computational Modeling in Social & Ecological Sciences
School of Complex Adaptive Systems
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
USA




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<p class=3D"MsoNormal">I am honored to be nominated to continue on the PSC.=
 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">By way of background, I have been a GRASS user and c=
ontributor for nearly two decades. When I first managed to compile GRASS on=
 my Mac, I wrote a polite email to Markus Neteler asking about the possibil=
ity of a GUI. He wrote back a polite
 email explaining that this new open source project relied on volunteers to=
 do such development. While uncertain about my ability to contribute the pr=
oject, I tried anyway--learning and benefiting much. I have had a number of=
 roles in the GRASS community and
 indeed ended us designing and coding several generations of GUI's, includi=
ng the one now used. This work is now carried on by others younger and more=
 talented than I am. Importantly, all of my contributions would not have be=
en possible without the collaboration
 of other volunteers in this community. While I still do a little developme=
nt work, my main contribution is to maintain the Mac binaries.&nbsp;<o:p></=
o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">I use GRASS for socio-ecological research and dynami=
c modeling, and teach geospatial technologies with GRASS (in the USA, Germa=
ny, and Spain). Being a member of the international GRASS community has mad=
e me an ardent and vocal advocate
 of FOSS and open science. Promoting open scientific computation is key to =
the mission of the scientific network I lead, CoMSES.NET. I regularly point=
 to GRASS as an exemplar open source software project, a bottom up, self-or=
ganized network of users and developers
 around the world who together create some of the most powerful and highest=
 quality geospatial software available.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">I will continue to participate in the GRASS develope=
r and user communities, advocating for GRASS and FOSS, whether or not I am =
on the PSC. If selected, I am happy to continue to provide input, a histori=
cal perspective, and support the PSC
 as a researcher/educator/developer and as a Mac user of GRASS. My goals fo=
r GRASS center around making it more accessible so that more people can use=
 it and contribute to the project. I am very happy to see the continued gro=
wth of the developer and user communities,
 especially the new generation of developers who are continuing the GRASS t=
radition of high-quality, cutting-edge software. I certainly support ongoin=
g work to make the GUI more flexible and more usable, critically important =
for enabling a wide diversity of
 people to apply this sophisticated and powerful software. Along these line=
s, I would encourage incipient development efforts to provide a browser-bas=
ed version of GRASS, available online as software-as-a-service. Also, in or=
der to support transparent, scientific
 workflows, one suggestion I have is for an option that would automatically=
 record the commands behind a series of GUI actions in a file that could be=
 saved and shared. All the functionality to do this is already in place in =
GRASS. Finally, while preparing
 this statement, I went looking for an expression of the GRASS mission, and=
 found that one is not available beyond &quot;Bringing advanced geospatial =
technologies to the world&quot;. This is indeed laudable. But given the lon=
g and successful history, and worldwide use
 of GRASS, it would be of value for the PSC, with approval of voting commun=
ity members, to articulate a more comprehensive GRASS mission statement to =
communicate the vision of this community to a global audience.&nbsp;<o:p></=
o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">Michael Barton<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><span style=3D"font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica=
;color:black">______________________________</span><span style=3D"font-size=
:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Lucida Grande&quot;,sans-serif;color:black"><o:p>=
</o:p></span></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><span style=3D"font-size:9.0pt;font-family:&quot;Luc=
ida Sans&quot;,sans-serif;color:#5E5E5E">C. Michael Barton&nbsp;<br>
Network for&nbsp;Computational Modeling in Social&nbsp;&amp; Ecological Sci=
ences<br>
School of&nbsp;Complex Adaptive Systems<br>
School&nbsp;of Human Evolution &amp; Social&nbsp;Change<br>
Arizona State University<br>
USA<br>
<br>
<br>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
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